text:
Don't you just love how all the big holidays just seem to happen at the same time? Sundown tonight marks Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, we're also "fêting" Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and we just celebrated the Fall Equinox – oh, and it JUST HAPPENS TO BE VeganMoFo…coiencidence? I think not!
The Universe has all its ducks in a row to help us feel a bit of union with our fellow wo and man, Vegan or otherwise, and that just makes me feel all fuzzy-happy-granola-handing out daisys-ish.
And before we get all wrapped up in our Raw Thursday excitement, let's not forget about the big Vice-Presidential Debate happening in the United States, either. Ahem, Vote Democrat People, ahem.
Anyway, I just love a good Raw Thursday, so let's get started!
Breakfast :
My morning began with a lovely smoothie – a frozen banana, a small pear, a tablespoon of ground flaxseed, a big handful of fresh chopped parsley, and about a half cup of fresh apple juice. I have no picture, because at 6 a.m. in my kitchen there is no light save the orangy-glow of my ecologically-friendlyish lightbulb. Just imagine it was pretty and it tasted fresh and crisp like the autumn morning.
A.M. Snack :
The Raw Thursday post-run mid-morning snackie-poo was a Raw Banana Bread Bar. You know when you do something so obviously simple, yet it turns out freaking perfect? Well kids, that's what this was all about for the Shellyfish. I wanted to re-create some of the Fancy-Over-Priced-Raw-Bar goodness, and I did it all by my self! Sorry about the crappy picture, but I took it while eating, so there you go. Here's the so easy recipe so you can make them at home and feel very proud of yourself, too:
- 100g raw almonds
- Three dried bananas, chopped
- 150g pitted dates, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- water
I put the almonds in the food processor first to grind 'em up a bit, then added everything save the water, which I slowly added to help make a paste. The consistency is still a bit sticky, so maybe next time I'll use less dates & less water, and maybe throw in some walnuts…but the taste is dead bang, kids. Wow!
Lunch :
A humongous salad with fresh battavia lettuce, freshly grated carrots, corn (frozen, well, thawed frozen, duh), and my usual "I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing" vinagrette which is usually apple cider vinegar, some olive or other oil, a clove of garlic, some tahini, maybe some fresh herbs, etc. I also had me an "Almond Flaxseed Burger" from Brendan Brazier's The Thrive Diet. Oh how I lament that talented professional athlete and vegan Brazier caved to the marketing whimsies of his publisher and dubbed this book a "Diet" book. Grrrr. It's not really a diet book, though it does have a very high-raw meal plan and a very small selection of recipes in it. It's a good read if you're vegan, raw-curious, and an athlete. I picked it up last Spring after Jen suggested it – thanks Jen! – it's handy because it does have recipes for making your own energy bars and recuperation puddings and such.
P.M. Snack
The afternoon snack is really key for me on my Raw Thursdays because I do feel rather peckish around l'heure du goûter or snack time, not to mention that I don't eat dinner until nearly 8 p.m. Yesterday I posted the recipe for Tahitian Almond Dip (by popular demand), and that got me craving it, but as I was taking out the ingredients I decided to not leave good enough alone and change it up a little. Holy freaking Almond Dip Batman! I am so glad I decided to play with this, because it is so darn good…it has this amazing Fall-Carameled Apple feeling to it (though I'm sure nothing like Maggie's Vegan Caramel Apples, drool, drool). Try this, you will not be disappointed!
- About a cup raw almond butter (I just eyeballed it, because it is so annoying to measure nut butters and have them get all sticky on the measuring cups.)
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1 vanilla bean, halved & scraped a bit
- fresh apple juice – I have no idea how much, maybe 1/2 a cup? I just kept adding it until it was creamy enough.
I put everything save the juice in the food processor, then started adding the juice when things got gummy.
Dinner :
I haven't acutally had dinner yet! I can tell you, though, that I'll be having another huge salad – this time with shreaded zuchini and raw beets, and I'll be having the other "Almond Flaxseed Burger" because the recipe makes 2, really 3, small patties. I know if I wait until after dinner the chances of my getting this post up today are drastically reduced…so better now than tomorrow!
Speaking of tomorrow, stay tuned! It'll be the big drawing for the felty-love pouch! I'm so excited!


text:
Superstorm Sandy slams into New Jersey coast
Storm stripped of hurricane status but remains dangerous
Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City, threatening its subways and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. At least 10 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm, which brought the presidential campaign to a halt a week before Election Day.
Sandy knocked out power to at least 3.1 million people across the East, and New York City's main utility said large sections of Manhattan were plunged into darkness. Water pressed into the island from three sides.
Just before the storm center reached land, forecasters stripped it of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force wind, and forecasters were careful to say it remained every bit as dangerous to the 50 million people in its path.
As the storm closed in, it smacked the boarded-up big cities of the Northeast corridor — Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston — with stinging rain and gusts of more than 85 mph. It also converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a superstorm, a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high wind but snow.
Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water and saw a piece of its world-famous Boardwalk washed away earlier in the day.
Authorities reported a record surge 13 feet high at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, from the storm and high tide combined.
In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city's financial district, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions.
The subway system was shut down Sunday night, and the stock markets never opened at all Monday. They are likely to be closed Tuesday as well.
The surge hit New York City hours after a construction crane atop a luxury high-rise collapsed in the wind and dangled precariously 74 floors above the street. Forecasters said the wind at the top the building may have been close to 95 mph.
As the storm drew near, airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights, disrupting the plans of travelers all over the world.
Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
Ten deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees. At least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada.
President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled their campaign appearances at the very height of the race, with just over a week to go before Election Day. The president pledged the government's help and made a direct plea from the White House to those in the storm's path.
"When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate," he said. "Don't delay, don't pause, don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a powerful storm."
Sandy, which killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Atlantic, began to hook left at midday toward the New Jersey coast.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said people were stranded in Atlantic City, which sits on a barrier island. He accused the mayor of allowing them to stay there. With the hurricane roaring through, Christie warned it was no longer safe for rescuers, and advised people who didn't evacuate the barrier islands to "hunker down" until morning.
"I hope, I pray, that there won't be any loss of life because of it," he said.
While the hurricane's 90 mph winds registered as only a Category 1 on a scale of five, it packed "astoundingly low" barometric pressure, giving it terrific energy to push water inland, said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology at MIT.
And the New York metropolitan apparently got the worst of it, because it was on the dangerous northeastern wall of the storm.
"We are looking at the highest storm surges ever recorded" in the Northeast, said Jeff Masters, meteorology director for Weather Underground, a private forecasting service. "The energy of the storm surge is off the charts, basically."
Hours before landfall, there was graphic evidence of the storm's power.
A construction crane atop a luxury high-rise in New York City collapsed in the wind and dangled precariously 74 floors above the street. Forecasters said the wind at the top the building may have been close to 95 mph.
Off North Carolina, a replica of the 18th-century sailing ship HMS Bounty that was built for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" went down in the storm, and 14 crew members were rescued by helicopter from rubber lifeboats bobbing in 18-foot seas. Another crew member was found hours later but was unresponsive. The captain was missing.
At Cape May, water sloshed over the seawall, and it punched through dunes in other seaside communities. Sandy also tore away an old section of Atlantic City's historic boardwalk.
"When I think about how much water is already in the streets, and how much more is going to come with high tide tonight, this is going to be devastating," said Bob McDevitt, president of the main Atlantic City casino workers union. "I think this is going to be a really bad situation tonight."
In Maryland, at least 100 feet of a fishing pier at the beach resort of Ocean City was destroyed, and Gov. Martin O'Malley said there would be devastating flooding from the swollen Chesapeake Bay.
"There will be people who die and are killed in this storm," he said.
At least half a million people had been ordered to evacuate, including 375,000 from low-lying parts of New York City, and by the afternoon authorities were warning that it could be too late for people who had not left already.
Sheila Gladden evacuated her home in Philadelphia's flood-prone Eastwick neighborhood, which took on water during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, and headed for a hotel.
"I'm not going through this again," she said.
Those who stayed behind had few ways to get out. Not only was the subway shut down, but the Holland Tunnel connecting New York to New Jersey was closed, as was a tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan, and the city planned to shut down the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington, the Verrazano-Narrows and several other spans because of high winds.
If the storm reaches the higher estimate of $20 billion in damage, that would put it ahead of Hurricane Irene, which raked the Northeast in August 2011 and caused $16 billion in damage. Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1,200 people, cost $108 billion.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
APNewsBreak: Colo. suspect slipped ankle bracelet
DENVER — Parole officials did not realize that a white supremacist gang member had slipped his ankle bracelet and fled custody until five days after the system first flagged him as being delinquent, according to records released Tuesday.
They sent a warrant out for his arrest the next day, one day before he was killed in a shootout with Texas authorities and a day after police now say they think he was involved in the slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.
"We have to do better in the future," said Tim Hand, director of the Department of Correction's parole division.
Evan Spencer Ebel had been a model parolee until his electronic monitoring bracelet stopped working March 14. Before that, he called in daily, even once calling in alarm because no one had requested his weekly urinalysis test to show he hadn't been using drugs.
His father provided him housing and a job at his law firm, but on the afternoon of March 14, a "tamper alert" automatically went to a prison computer system showing the bracelet had stopped working.
Two days later, corrections officials called Ebel and told him to come in to repair the bracelet. He did not show up.
It was not until March 18 that parole officers spoke to Ebel's father, who told them he feared his son had fled and gave them permission to search his apartment. The next day, two parole officers saw Ebel had taken a large amount of clothing and apparently fled.
That night, Clements was shot and killed as he answered the front door at his house. The next morning, parole officers obtained a warrant for Ebel's arrest for parole violations and sent it to Colorado State Patrol. They had no indication he was involved in the Clements' killing until the shootout March 21.
Ebel is also suspected of killing a Denver pizza delivery man and father of three on March 17.
It's the latest break that Ebel seems to have caught as he spent nearly a decade in Colorado's criminal justice system. Court officials on Monday vowed to release procedures that led to a clerical error that allowed Ebel to leave prison four years early.
Judicial officials acknowledged Monday that Ebel's previous felony conviction was inaccurately recorded and his release in January was an error.
In 2008, Ebel pleaded guilty in rural Fremont County to assaulting a prison officer. In the plea deal, Ebel was to be sentenced to up to four additional years in prison, to be served after he completed the eight-year sentence that put him behind bars in 2005, according to a statement from Colorado's 11th Judicial District.
However, the judge didn't say the sentence was meant to be "consecutive," or in addition to, Ebel's current one. So the court clerk recorded it as one to be served "concurrently," or at the same time. That's the information that went to the state prisons, the statement said.
So on Jan. 28, prisons officials saw that Ebel had finished his court-ordered sentence and released him. They said they had no way of knowing the plea deal was intended to keep Ebel behind bars for years longer.
Two months later, Ebel was dead after a shootout with authorities in Texas. The gun he used in the March 21 gunbattle was the same one used to shoot and kill prisons chief Tom Clements two days earlier.
Police believe Ebel also was involved in the death of Nathan Leon, who was killed March 17 after heading out to deliver a pizza.
"The Colorado Department of Corrections values its long-standing partnership with the 11th Judicial District and the district attorney's office to maintain order at the prisons in Canon City," Gov. John Hickenlooper's spokeswoman Megan Castle said in a statement.
"We commend both the 11th Judicial District and the DOC for reviewing their own internal processes and procedures."
Charles Barton, chief judge of the 11th Judicial District, and court administrator Walter Blair, said in a statement that the court regrets the oversight "and extends condolences to the families of Mr. Nathan Leon and Mr. Tom Clements."
Leon's widow said the apology wasn't going to cut it.
"How do I tell my 4-year-olds, 'Daddy was murdered because of a clerical error,'" Katherine Leon told KUSA-TV in Denver.
Leon's father-in-law told AP he had no immediate comment.
The attack that led to the plea deal took place in 2006. According to prison and court records, Ebel slipped out of his handcuffs while being transferred from a cell and punched a prison officer in the face. He bloodied the officer's nose and finger, and threatened to kill the officer's family.
"If Mr. Ebel was prosecuted for an assault on an officer, it had to be pretty severe, because in the course of day-to-day work, correctional officers are regularly assaulted or threatened," said Pueblo County Commissioner Buffie McFadyen, who is executive director of the correctional officer group Corrections U.S.A.
"It sounds like a horrific oversight," she said of the mistake that led to Ebel's release this year. "It's a tragic clerical error."
How often such errors happen is unknown. Examining court documents for typographical and such errors would be a huge undertaking. The only thing that comes close is case management efforts that ask questions such as, "can we find the file," said Bill Raftery, an analyst at the Williamsburg, Va.-based National Center for State Courts.
Ebel spent much of his time behind bars in solitary confinement and had a long record of disciplinary violations. Records show he joined a white supremacist prison gang.
Ebel's early release was just the latest twist in a case full of painful ironies. His father is friends with Hickenlooper and had testified before the Colorado Legislature about the damage solitary confinement did to his son. Clements was worried about that very issue.
Hickenlooper raised the case with Clements when the governor hired him to come to Colorado in 2011. The Democratic governor said he never mentioned Ebel's name and the inmate received no special treatment.


text:
https://eliaskoskimies.com does not, by any means, claim to be accurate and appropriate at all times. We urge the viewers and the visitors to put their discretion into effect while making judgement for the information which are displayed on the website.
As a matter of fact, we are an unbiased source of information, which data have been curated over time and displayed for our users.
https://eliaskoskimies.com links out to a few websites which are displayed on the pages for advertorial purposes and the content therein is not controlled by us.
Please feel free to comment, give suggestions and feedback on the relevant pages.


text:
A fast-paced, boggle inspired, word action/puzzle game. Find words fast! Make words to prevent the bombs from exploding. Collect gold and silver tiles to score extra points. How long can you last?
Click on adjoining letters to make words as fast as you can. Click the last letter twice or press the enter key to submit words.
Additively Fun Free Word Puzzle! Slide Letters Around Making Words! Making Words Will Clear Valuable Space!
Find numbers which work! Multiplication Master makes math fun! Beat the clock in this battle of the brains or create crazy combos! Multiplication Master Means Maths Madness!
Swap Words to Make Sense of Strangeness in this new word puzzle game! Play reWord Game Free Online!
Massive 6+ Player Chess Board! Pawns move in any direction! Invade and take over your enemies chess pieces by taking the king!
Guess what Albert Bottington is thinking!
Read kids to sleep with books to help kids read.
The RapperZappers have taken over 8 planets! Use your knowledge of words to get them all back! Change letters in words to create new words, and defeat the RapperZappers!
Professional copywriter Jane got a brilliant opportunity to write an article for pompous magazine. She thoroughly collects necessary materials, but to make each word shine she needs her own experience! Her task is to find a hypnotist who has power to send her to the subconsciousness... Start the way to past lives in every of these beautifully crafted scenes, explore incredibly refined interactive hidden object levels and solve perplexing puzzles.
Professional copywriter Jane got the brilliant opportunity to write an article for pompous magazine. She thoroughly collects necessary materials, but to make each word shine she needs her own experience! Mysterious and eccentric hypnotist offers to help her…
Multiplayer 8Ball Pool (US Rules). Play 8ball pool with your read friends online without any registration! Eight-ball, sometimes called stripes and solids and, more rarely, bigs and littles or highs and lows, is a pool game popular in much of the world, and the subject of international amateur and professional competition. Played on a pool table with six pockets, the game is so universally known in some countries that beginners are often unaware of other pool games and believe the word "pool" itself refers to eight-ball. The game has numerous variations, including Alabama eight-ball, crazy eight, English eight-ball pool, last pocket, misery, Missouri, 1 and 15 in the sides, rotation eight ball, soft eight, and others. Standard eight-ball is the second most competitive professional pool game, after nine-ball and for the last several decades ahead of straight pool. Eight-ball is played with sixteen balls: a cue ball, and fifteen object balls consisting of seven striped balls, seven solid balls and the black 8 ball. After the balls are scattered on a break shot, the players are assigned either the group of solid balls or the stripes once a ball from a particular group is legally pocketed.
This is a really simple learning game for children. The goal is to find the missing letter to complete the word provided on each level. A certain amount of points is deducted from the base score of 100. So the more mistakes you incur, the lower the score you receive.
A game where you must draw so that other people can guess the word you have been given.
Missed letters is a fun free online game for kids of all ages. Even the youngest learners can practice letter recognition by trying to find the missing letter that completes each vocabulary word. find the missing letters that complete teach word.
If you ever wanted to be a giant lizard on a destructive rampage, here's your chance! When your lizard reaches a building, type the word that appears to kick, smash, or breathe fire on the it. The more buildings you pulverize, the more points you earn.
C'mon down and try your luck at Mind Flipper, where spelling meets wit, brains outweigh brawn, and budget prevents us from creating a hot babe to flip the letters. Yep, it's America's new favorite game show, and with some ad support, it's free to play! Link letters, create words, max out on points, and do it quickly - time is your enemy!
So you think working in a library is easy, huh? Let's put your Dewey decimal skills to the test. As returned books pile up, so does your stress level. So compile volumes wisely, and stash them away quickly. As the books fall you have to choose letters to spell words. Words can be created from any position in the stack. Longer words will gain you more points and clear the stacks faster. Clear each level by accruing the indicated point value.
Use your ninja slicing skills to find and spell the given words. With 100,000 words to spell in a fast paced game play, a crossword game has never been more satisfying. There is also an endless mode for relaxing game play.
Spell as many words as you can from a bunch of scrambled letters. Use your eye and hand reflexes to find and spell the given words with scrambled letters on the screen. Features: - 100,000+ wordss to spell - 3 different game modes
The goal of this game is to create as many words as possible in 2 minutes using the given letters. The longer the word you create the higher your score will be.
The girl is frightened, please save her life! Stop the execution by guessing the hidden word. Be careful, you have only few attempts!
Backpack Travels is a hidden word game to build your English vocabulary from basic words to more specialized terms. This word search game is also a good exercise for speed reading and accurate spelling. Attain a higher level of literacy and become more articulate as you memorize both common and complex words from 8 grid categories: trip planning, tourism, vehicles, ships and boats, hotels, camping, bicycles, and air transportation.
A hidden word game to build your English vocabulary from basic words to more specialized terms. This word search game is a good exercise for speed reading and accurate spelling. Attain a higher level of literacy and become more articulate as you memorize both common and complex words.
Just shoot at parashutes, words on which rhymes with chosen word
NewsPuzzles: Like a daily crossword (but simpler) and based on today's NEWS! . . . . . . . What a concept! Plus a daily crickler crossword and vocabulary puzzle. . . . . . Cricklers are a new type of word puzzle. We set out to totally re-invent the crossword puzzle for the computer age. Traditional crossword puzzles are incredibly successful but they have several serious drawbacks: (1) They are difficult to construct, (2) Most words are short and often silly -- chosen only because they fit, (3) Matching clues to numbers is a distraction, and (4) A given puzzle is usually either too easy or too hard. . . . . . Cricklers solve all of these problems while retaining the essence and feel of a traditional crossword puzzle. Cricklers adapt: they become easier or harder depending on the skill of the solver. Words are chosen by the designer -- the computer takes care of fitting them together. Clues and answers sit side by side. . . . . . Cricklers use upper and lower case correctly and can handle numbers, symbols, and accented letters. You can see which letters are vowels, and you get a reassuring sound when you complete a clue correctly.
Fun word search related to everything in the wizarding world.
Sequel to a popular word game is here! From the given letters create a word as fast as possible!
In this war, strategy skill is not enough. Your job is to guess words from various categories and earn some gold in this way. Next, use the gold to train warriors and defeat your enemy. Good luck solider!
A fast-paced, boggle inspired, word action/puzzle game. Find words fast! Make words to prevent the bombs from exploding. Collect gold and silver tiles to score extra points. How long can you last?
Blocktion is a fun, dynamic evolution of the "make words out of falling letters" genre of word games. By mixing in some puzzle game elements and abandoning the usual 'falling' viewpoint, Blocktion provides more gameplay freedom and an entertaining challenge of your spelling and word pattern recognition skills.
Score points by arranging letters to spell words.
Imagine an ordinary block-breaking game like the classic "Breakout" or "Arkanoid". Now imagine that instead of waiting for you to break them, the blocks slowly move toward the paddle, like a side-scroller. Finally, in keeping with the 'keyboard' theme, you have to knock out the right keys to beat the level. That's Scroll Block
Wordz! is a brand-new free online word puzzle which combines classic crossword basis with simple swap-and-match gameplay perfectly. Test your vocabulary and spelling skills, feel a detective, swap letters and decipher new words! Choose any of 6 languages available in this addicting word puzzle: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. Wordz! is also a pleasant way to test your knowledge of a foreign language and learn more! Try a multiplayer mode, challenge other players and become a world champion in crossword solving!
Help Dakota the Explorer work on vocabulary skills. Create words by clicking on letters and adjacent linked letters. Double-click on the last letter to submit the word. Break jeweled tiles for bonus points.
Addicting word game.
A popular highscores series Word Search is back with 10 new categories! Go for highscores in a global leaderboards!
A word based puzzle game which uses visual riddles. Solve the visual riddles by typing in words and watch as they transform into what the word describes. For example, the word "water" will act as if it were water. Use this technique to reach the star of each level and save the princess!
Popular series of higscores games Word Search is back with 10 new categories! How fast can you find all the words? Submit your score to a global leaderboard to see who is the best! Categories included: - famous actors - famous actresses - dogs - ice cream - zoo animals - circus - The Hobbit - Singers - body parts - random Categories included: - famous actors - famous actresses - dogs - ice cream - zoo animals - circus - The Hobbit - Singers - body parts Features: - 10 categories - each game is different - each category has a global leaderboard, so you play against other people all around the world - simple but addicting gameplay
Kids First Play is the application made for our youngest. In this applications your kids will be able to draw, color premade paintings and learn how to spell in 4 different languages (English, German, Spanish and French). When we give phones or tabs to kids, consider what apps/games you allow them to play, it's the best for us and the kids that they learn when they play.
Mike's mother has been sick, he wants find 3 potions that owned by 3 crows to help his mother. Unfortunately, they give a test for Mike to collecting 60 words to have that potions. Help Mike to find it by flying his balloon around a world of Target Words.
A second part of popular Word search game is here! Playable also on android phones!
Puzzles are ideal for players of all ages since they can keep the mind sharp and can be played for any level of difficulty. There are many different types of games people like to play. Some of the most popular are word, number and jigsaw puzzles. One special kind of puzzles is the sliding ones. Here you don't have the liberty to rearrange pieces as you want, but you have to respect some movement rules that make the game harder and, at the same time, more enjoyable.
Test You vocabulary skill using this fun addictive game...
Detective Mick Letterton aka "the Lettersleuth" needs your help. He's just been ordered to find a whole list of words hidden in a confusing maze of letters - nothing fancy for a professional like Mick, but this time deadline constraints cause an almost unbearable pressure on him. Will you help Mick and manage to find all the items in time?
Encontre os símbolos na ordem correta na colcha de retalhos!
The challenging and addictive word game you will see! With hundreds of words to guess!
If you like breaking codes, try Code Quest! You would find great encrypted messages.


text:
On Wednesday afternoon, Tesla motors released a very strong fourth quarter earnings report that sent $TSLA shares up 11.76 percent (as of this writing) in after-hours trading. The electric vehicle company, which lost $35 million in a rocky Q3, reported that it sold a record 6,892 Model S vehicles in the fourth quarter. That push helped Tesla just barely beat the ambitious 25 percent automotive gross margin that it had predicted for Q4 at the end of Q3.
Tesla reported this quarter's earnings in both GAAP and non-GAAP terms (GAAP stands for Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). By non-GAAP measures, Tesla made $46 million in profit this quarter, but following GAAP principles, it sustained a loss of $16 million. We saw this split before in August 2013 when Tesla both made a profit of $26.2 million by the looser non-GAAP rules and also sustained a loss of $30.5 million by the more stringent GAAP rules."It is important to note that the differences between GAAP and non-GAAP are primarily due to lease accounting for our resale value guarantee (RVG) and employee stock based compensation as a result of the increase in our stock price last year," wrote Tesla in its Wednesday report. "If current trends continue, the average price of a used Model S should be meaningfully above our resale value guarantee."
Also assuaging any doubts that might have been had from that GAAP loss was Tesla's report that it's sitting on $40 million in positive free flow of cash from Q4, and that it expects to increase vehicle delivery growth by 55 percent in 2014. "Production is expected to increase from 600 cars/week presently to about 1,000 cars/week by end of the year as we expand our factory capacity and address supplier bottlenecks," Tesla wrote in its financial statement.
Expansion in China has also sent Tesla into a good position, especially given news earlier this month that the Chinese government would give Model S buyers a larger-than-expected subsidy, in efforts to improve air quality in that country. In the conference call this afternoon, CEO Elon Musk told investors and reporters that the Chinese market will be good to Tesla when the company starts shipping its cars this spring. "It will be unlikely that we will be able to satisfy demand in China this year," Musk said.
The one damper on the news today was that the consumer-delivery timeline for the next-generation Tesla Model X will be pushed back from the end of 2014 to Spring 2015. And, due to a ramp up in Model X production, Tesla expects its operating expenses to increase by 15 percent in Q1 2014.
Musk also addressed news from last fall involving three vehicle fires that Tesla's Model S' had sustained. "At first we saw a significant drop in demand, and then as consumers came to understand this was a media driven thing, and not a real danger with the car, and since then our sales have increased steadily." A federal safety investigation opened an inquiry into the Model S' lithium-ion battery pack in November, but Musk said he's not worried about what the investigators would find.
Finally, Tesla predicts that it's Q1 revenue growth will be relatively small compared to the next three quarters of 2014. "Our actual revenue number for Q1...will be lower than it might otherwise be," although Tesla still expects to turn a profit.


text:
🎉 The CRAZY DAYS are here. Get an additional 💰 20% Off | Code: CRAZY20 +info
CRAZY DAYS💰 -20% Off | Code: CRAZY20
on orders over 100€
2 to 7 days shipping
Buy 100% safe
Price Today From 0.88€
Price Today From 0.80€
Windows 7
Microsoft Windows
Available in 35 colors
Windows 10
7 vinyl(s) found |
See 99 per page
Subscribe to our newsletter!
And get exclusive access to offers and promotions.
The data provided by the user through this form will be incorporated into treatments whose responsibility is Banner Imagen S.L. with C.I.F. B22348015 and registered office in Polígono Monzú, Ronda Industría, C / Interior nave 13. 22006 HUESCA. The purpose of data collection in this form is to facilitate the processing of orders, profiling users and sending commercial offers via email (2-3 monthly shipments) on products and / or services that may result of interest to our customers. Assignments will only be made if there is a legal obligation. Reserved your rights to access, rectify and delete, as well as other rights, as indicated in the Privacy Policy
We produce
quality at the lowest prices
16 years
selling online
Thousands of satisfied
Express delivery
2-5 days
Free delivery
on orders over 60€
Purchasing is 100%


text:
homepage news
Lawmakers form group to fight anti-LGBTI discrimination around the world
Mark Takano among Global Equality Caucus founding members
Lawmakers from more than two dozen countries have formed a new group that seeks to combat anti-LGBTI discrimination.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Dominican Congresswoman Jacqueline Montero, Canadian MP Randy Boissonnault, Venezuelan Assemblywoman Tamara Adrián, Philippine Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Kenyan MP Esther Passaris, British MP Nick Herbert and Sen. Aziza Lake of Antigua and Barbuda are among the upwards of 100 legislators who have joined the Global Equality Caucus.
A press release indicates the Global Equality Caucus will "support" efforts to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations and "the end of violence against LGBT+ people."
The Global Equality Caucus will "promote equal rights and nondiscrimination and ensure that LGBT+ people have equal access to healthcare, including HIV treatment and support for trans people." The press release also says the Global Equality Caucus "wants to ensure that data is collected so that governments can be held accountable for how LGBT+ people are treated, and support funding for NGOs which are working for LGBT+ people."
A formal announcement is scheduled to take place on Friday at the U.N.
The press release says the Global Equality Caucus "is open to legislators across the world regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."
"In too many places around the world LGBT+ people face discrimination and live in fear," said Herbert in the press release. "We need to stand up for them, and politicians are in a unique position to drive change. We pass laws, vote funds and influence leaders. We have a platform to speak for those whose voice cannot be heard. The Global Equality Caucus will make the case for change, united by a belief in equality for all."
Takano said the Global Equality Caucus "will give us a chance to learn from each other's successes and better understand the challenges that exist in different nations." New Zealand MP Louisa Wall agreed.
"As a passionate human rights practitioner, and a proud indigenous takatapui lesbian cis woman, I am committed to developing and supporting initiatives that uphold principles of equality and non-discrimination and protect the rights of our most vulnerable," she said in the press release. "LGBTIQ+ human beings and citizens globally have a right to exist as we are. That is why the Global Equality Caucus is so very important."
Friday's announcement coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
The Trump administration earlier this year announced openly gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell will lead an initiative that encourages countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.
The State Department last month did not publicly acknowledge the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It has also not issued a Pride month statement.
State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on Monday defended a policy that prohibits U.S. embassies from displaying Pride flags on official flag poles.
"The Global Equality Caucus will be a network that will advance the rights of people throughout the world," said Takano. "At a time when the cause of LGBT equality seems to be gaining ground in many places, but falling behind in as many others, the need for this caucus could not be greater."
homepage news
New Supreme Court term includes critical LGBTQ case with 'terrifying' consequences
Business owner seeks to decline services for same-sex weddings
The U.S. Supreme Court, after a decision overturning Roe v. Wade that still leaves many reeling, is starting a new term with justices slated to revisit the issue of LGBTQ rights.
In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the court will return to the issue of whether or not providers of custom-made goods can refuse service to LGBTQ customers on First Amendment grounds. In this case, the business owner is Lorie Smith, a website designer in Colorado who wants to opt out of providing her graphic design services for same-sex weddings despite the civil rights law in her state.
Jennifer Pizer, acting chief legal officer of Lambda Legal, said in an interview with the Blade, "it's not too much to say an immeasurably huge amount is at stake" for LGBTQ people depending on the outcome of the case.
"This contrived idea that making custom goods, or offering a custom service, somehow tacitly conveys an endorsement of the person — if that were to be accepted, that would be a profound change in the law," Pizer said. "And the stakes are very high because there are no practical, obvious, principled ways to limit that kind of an exception, and if the law isn't clear in this regard, then the people who are at risk of experiencing discrimination have no security, no effective protection by having a non-discrimination laws, because at any moment, as one makes their way through the commercial marketplace, you don't know whether a particular business person is going to refuse to serve you."
The upcoming arguments and decision in the 303 Creative case mark a return to LGBTQ rights for the Supreme Court, which had no lawsuit to directly address the issue in its previous term, although many argued the Dobbs decision put LGBTQ rights in peril and threatened access to abortion for LGBTQ people.
And yet, the 303 Creative case is similar to other cases the Supreme Court has previously heard on the providers of services seeking the right to deny services based on First Amendment grounds, such as Masterpiece Cakeshop and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. In both of those cases, however, the court issued narrow rulings on the facts of litigation, declining to issue sweeping rulings either upholding non-discrimination principles or First Amendment exemptions.
Pizer, who signed one of the friend-of-the-court briefs in opposition to 303 Creative, said the case is "similar in the goals" of the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation on the basis they both seek exemptions to the same non-discrimination law that governs their business, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, or CADA, and seek "to further the social and political argument that they should be free to refuse same-sex couples or LGBTQ people in particular."
"So there's the legal goal, and it connects to the social and political goals and in that sense, it's the same as Masterpiece," Pizer said. "And so there are multiple problems with it again, as a legal matter, but also as a social matter, because as with the religion argument, it flows from the idea that having something to do with us is endorsing us."
One difference: the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation stemmed from an act of refusal of service after owner, Jack Phillips, declined to make a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex couple for their upcoming wedding. No act of discrimination in the past, however, is present in the 303 Creative case. The owner seeks to put on her website a disclaimer she won't provide services for same-sex weddings, signaling an intent to discriminate against same-sex couples rather than having done so.
As such, expect issues of standing — whether or not either party is personally aggrieved and able bring to a lawsuit — to be hashed out in arguments as well as whether the litigation is ripe for review as justices consider the case. It's not hard to see U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has sought to lead the court to reach less sweeping decisions (sometimes successfully, and sometimes in the Dobbs case not successfully) to push for a decision along these lines.
Another key difference: The 303 Creative case hinges on the argument of freedom of speech as opposed to the two-fold argument of freedom of speech and freedom of religious exercise in the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation. Although 303 Creative requested in its petition to the Supreme Court review of both issues of speech and religion, justices elected only to take up the issue of free speech in granting a writ of certiorari (or agreement to take up a case). Justices also declined to accept another question in the petition request of review of the 1990 precedent in Smith v. Employment Division, which concluded states can enforce neutral generally applicable laws on citizens with religious objections without violating the First Amendment.
Representing 303 Creative in the lawsuit is Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that has sought to undermine civil rights laws for LGBTQ people with litigation seeking exemptions based on the First Amendment, such as the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.
Kristen Waggoner, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote in a Sept. 12 legal brief signed by her and other attorneys that a decision in favor of 303 Creative boils down to a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment.
"Colorado and the United States still contend that CADA only regulates sales transactions," the brief says. "But their cases do not apply because they involve non-expressive activities: selling BBQ, firing employees, restricting school attendance, limiting club memberships, and providing room access. Colorado's own cases agree that the government may not use public-accommodation laws to affect a commercial actor's speech."
Pizer, however, pushed back strongly on the idea a decision in favor of 303 Creative would be as focused as Alliance Defending Freedom purports it would be, arguing it could open the door to widespread discrimination against LGBTQ people.
"One way to put it is art tends to be in the eye of the beholder," Pizer said. "Is something of a craft, or is it art? I feel like I'm channeling Lily Tomlin. Remember 'soup and art'? We have had an understanding that whether something is beautiful or not is not the determining factor about whether something is protected as artistic expression. There's a legal test that recognizes if this is speech, whose speech is it, whose message is it? Would anyone who was hearing the speech or seeing the message understand it to be the message of the customer or of the merchants or craftsmen or business person?"
Despite the implications in the case for LGBTQ rights, 303 Creative may have supporters among LGBTQ people who consider themselves proponents of free speech.
One joint friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court, written by Dale Carpenter, a law professor at Southern Methodist University who's written in favor of LGBTQ rights, and Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment legal scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, argues the case is an opportunity to affirm the First Amendment applies to goods and services that are uniquely expressive.
"Distinguishing expressive from non-expressive products in some contexts might be hard, but the Tenth Circuit agreed that Smith's product does not present a hard case," the brief says. "Yet that court (and Colorado) declined to recognize any exemption for products constituting speech. The Tenth Circuit has effectively recognized a state interest in subjecting the creation of speech itself to antidiscrimination laws."
Oral arguments in the case aren't yet set, but may be announced soon. Set to defend the state of Colorado and enforcement of its non-discrimination law in the case is Colorado Solicitor General Eric Reuel Olson. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would grant the request to the U.S. solicitor general to present arguments before the justices on behalf of the Biden administration.
With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court that has recently scrapped the super-precedent guaranteeing the right to abortion, supporters of LGBTQ rights may think the outcome of the case is all but lost, especially amid widespread fears same-sex marriage would be next on the chopping block. After the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against 303 Creative in the lawsuit, the simple action by the Supreme Court to grant review in the lawsuit suggests they are primed to issue a reversal and rule in favor of the company.
Pizer, acknowledging the call to action issued by LGBTQ groups in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, conceded the current Supreme Court issuing the ruling in this case is "a terrifying prospect," but cautioned the issue isn't so much the makeup of the court but whether or not justices will continue down the path of abolishing case law.
"I think the question that we're facing with respect to all of the cases or at least many of the cases that are in front of the court right now, is whether this court is going to continue on this radical sort of wrecking ball to the edifice of settled law and seemingly a goal of setting up whole new structures of what our basic legal principles are going to be. Are we going to have another term of that?" Pizer said. "And if so, that's terrifying."
homepage news
Kelley Robinson, a Black, queer woman, named president of Human Rights Campaign
Progressive activist a veteran of Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Kelley Robinson, a Black, queer woman and veteran of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, is to become the next president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's leading LGBTQ group announced on Tuesday.
Robinson is set to become the ninth president of the Human Rights Campaign after having served as executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and more than 12 years of experience as a leader in the progressive movement. She'll be the first Black, queer woman to serve in that role.
"I'm honored and ready to lead HRC — and our more than three million member-advocates — as we continue working to achieve equality and liberation for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people," Robinson said. "This is a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people. We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us."
The next Human Rights Campaign president is named as Democrats are performing well in polls in the mid-term elections after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving an opening for the LGBTQ group to play a key role amid fears LGBTQ rights are next on the chopping block.
"The overturning of Roe v. Wade reminds us we are just one Supreme Court decision away from losing fundamental freedoms including the freedom to marry, voting rights, and privacy," Robinson said. "We are facing a generational opportunity to rise to these challenges and create real, sustainable change. I believe that working together this change is possible right now. This next chapter of the Human Rights Campaign is about getting to freedom and liberation without any exceptions — and today I am making a promise and commitment to carry this work forward."
The Human Rights Campaign announces its next president after a nearly year-long search process after the board of directors terminated its former president Alphonso David when he was ensnared in the sexual misconduct scandal that led former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign. David has denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against the LGBTQ group alleging racial discrimination.
Eastern Europe
Former Ambassador Daniel Baer explains it all on Ukraine crisis
Expert downplays strategic thinking behind Putin's move
Daniel Baer, who worked on LGBTQ human rights and transatlantic issues as one of several openly gay U.S. ambassadors during the Obama administration, answered questions from the Washington Blade on Ukraine as the international crisis continues to unfold.
Topics during the interview, which took place weeks ago on Jan. 27, included Putin's motivation for Russian incursions, the risk of outright war, predictions for Russia after Putin and how the crisis would affect LGBTQ people in Ukraine.
Baer was deputy assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and U.S. ambassador to the Organization of Security & Cooperation in Europe.
The full interview follows:
Washington Blade: What's your level of engagement with this affair? Are you doing any consulting work? Is the administration reaching out to you at all?
Daniel Baer: I actually think the White House is doing a pretty good job of recognizing that they need to not only have press conferences, but also talk to other people who are trying to figure out how to be constructive critics, idea generators from the outside.
Blade: OK, so you're being solicited and engaging on this issue. My next question for you is why do you think Putin is doing this at this time?
Baer: So, I guess taking a step back from the whole thing, one of the things about a problem like this is that everybody is searching for the right answer assuming that there is a like comfortable or compelling or intellectually accurate answer, and I actually think we're just in a really hard moment.
I don't know why he's doing it now. And in fact, I think that one of the puzzles that we haven't solved yet is that all the things that he says are the reasons that he's doing it — that he feels encirclement by NATO, … or that the situation in Ukraine is untenable — none of those things have changed. Setting aside the fact that they're spurious, it's not like there's been some new move in the last 12 months that has precipitated [a reaction] on any of those fronts that you can say, "Oh, well, he's responding to the recent meeting where Ukraine was offered membership in NATO, or he's responding to a change in government in Ukraine that it's clearly anti-Russia, or any other move that we've done." The explanation just doesn't hold water, and so I think we need to look for alternative ones.
The best I can come up with is actually just a broad — it doesn't actually explain this particular moment, but I think you could look at the timing of his life. He has, I don't know, 10 years left. And during those 10 years, it's unlikely that Russia is going to grow more powerful; it's much more likely that it's going to become at least relatively and probably nominally less powerful. And so, if you're unhappy with the status quo, and you feel like you're a declining power, and you don't have endless time, there's no time like the present. And you'll make up whatever reasons you need to in order to justify it.
I also think there's a tendency on our part to attribute far more "strategery" to Putin than there necessarily is. I mean, he's a bully and a thug. I think the whole Putin's playing chess and we're playing checkers is actually completely inverted. We're in our own heads that there's some kind of nuanced position that would mollify him. He's just a gangster and he's taking a punch because he has one. And I don't think it gets much more complicated than that. And so, I guess the answer to why he's doing this now, because the international conditions are such that he feels like the United States is focused domestically, the Ukrainians are not moving forward with succeeding to build — they're kind of in stasis on building a European state— and he has, you know, he has the space to take a punch, so he's contemplating doing it, or he's already decided to do it. And he's just extracting as much as possible before he takes it.
Blade: That leads me to my next question: What is your judgement of the risk of out and out war?
Baer: I don't know because I have two hypotheses that cut both ways. One is that I think Putin is vastly underestimating the degree of resistance. On the other hand, I think that nothing short of domination is satisfactory. And so, I don't know. I guess I think there's a 90 percent chance that he does something, and I think there's a 75 percent chance that what he does is not an all out invasion or ground invasion, at least not at first, but rather something that is aimed at confusing us. So some sort of hybrid or staged or false flag kind of attack in tandem with a political coup in Kiev, where he works to install a more Russia-loyal leader.
The thing with the ground invasion is that Russian soldiers' moms are one of the only, like, powerful political forces in civil society in Russia. I just don't see any way that a ground invasion doesn't involve massive Russian casualties, even if they will be dominant. The people who are going to impose the consequences on him will be the Ukrainians, not the rest of us, and he should not invade, and if he does, we should, frankly, work hard to make it as painful and difficult for him as possible.
Blade: What will that look like?
Baer: I think we should at that point continue — we shouldn't pause, we should continue to send the defensive equipment and backfill as much as possible their ability from an equipment basis to resist.
Blade: So if we were to look at a model for past U.S. engagements. I'm thinking Greece under President Truman, which was so successful that nobody really knows about it, I don't think. Is there any model we should be looking toward, or not looking toward?
Baer: No, I guess. I'm not sure there's any good historical model because obviously, any of them you can pick apart. I do think that one thing that has gotten lost in a lot of the analysis — and this goes back to Putin being a gangster thug, and not being such a genius — is there's a moral difference between us. The reason why Putin gets to control the dialogue is because he's willing to do things that we aren't willing to do — as gangsters are, as hostage-takers are — and so yes, they get to set the terms of what we discussed, because we're not holding hostages. We're trying to get hostages released. And the hostage-taker has an upper hand and asymmetry because they are willing to do something that is wrong.
We shouldn't lose the kind of moral difference there. Nor should we lose sight of the fact that Ukraine is being menaced. And I'm not saying it's our obligation [to intervene militarily], certainly not our obligation. They aren't a treaty ally. We have neither a political obligation nor a moral one to necessarily risk our own lives, our own soldiers in defense of Ukraine. But if Ukraine wants to defend themselves, there's a strong moral case to be made that anything, short of risking our own lives, is something that is morally good. We generally believe that self-defense from lethal threat is a reasonable moral cause and assisting others in defending themselves is too — I think there's a lot of back and forth that get glossed over whether that's a provocation or whatever, and I want to say to people stand back, look at this: we've got one party that is attacking another. And the question is, does the other have a right to defend itself? Yes. And if they have a right to defend themselves, and they also have a right to have whatever assistance people will offer them in defending themselves.
That doesn't mean that they get to demand that we show up and fight in the trenches with them, of course, and I don't think there's any serious people who are recommending that but it's a good thing to help them. It's not like a technical thing. It's a good thing to help
Blade: Getting into that moral background, one thing I want to ask you was about the significance of what would happen in this concept of democracy versus autocracy. First of all, how much is Ukraine a functional democracy, in the sense that if we're defending Ukraine, we are defending a democracy, and what signal do you think it would send if that Ukrainian government fell to Russian autocracy?
Baer: I think the institutions of government that the Ukrainian people have are not worthy of the Ukrainian people's own demonstrated commitment …
They are not worthy of the Ukrainian people's own demonstrated commitment to the idea of democratic institutions. So the answer is today's Ukrainian government is a mixed bag and it's very hard to build, on the rot of a Russian fiefdom, a functioning democracy, so I think it's a mixed bag. I don't want to sound like I'm minimizing [the changes], or that they've completely bungled an easy project. It was always going to be a hard project, and it was never going to be linear.
But I think that what we've seen from the Ukrainian people — by which I mean not Ukrainian people, but people of Ukraine — is that there is a broad part of society that a) does not want to live under a Russian thumb and b) sees its future in kind of European style democracy. And so I think that if there was, there's no question that the Russian attack would be in part about subjugating the people of Ukraine and forcing them to live under some sort of new Russian satellite. And I think that there's little space for serious argument that that's something that the people of the country wish to have.
Blade: But I'm just kind of getting at — you're kind of minimizing that this is a strategic move by Putin, but if he were to successfully dominant Ukraine it becomes a Russian satellite isn't that saying like, "Well, ha ha West, you thought the Cold War was over and there's going to be just be a unipolar world in the future but no, we're gonna we have this we're back and we're gonna create a multipolar world for the future."
Baer: Yeah, I mean, my answer to the Russians who always raise the multipolar world to me is, "Fine, it's going to be a multipolar world. What makes you think that Russia is one of the poles?" Poles by definition draw people to them, they are compelling and a pole attracts, magnetically or otherwise, and there is nothing attractive about the model that Russia is pursuing. And if the only way that you can be a pole is by subjugating, to force your neighbors, you are proving that you are not one.
I think the benefits for Russia are far smaller than Putin thinks and I think the consequences for the rest of the world of allowing a violation of international order to go forward are much larger than many people recognize.
Blade: But that was their approach when they were the Soviet Union. They were subjugating the Eastern Bloc through Russian force. They did have, in theory, the concept of their worldview of you know, of socialism, or whatever you want to put it charitably, was going to be the right way to go. Is there really that much of a difference?
Baer: Yeah, however disingenuous it was, they did have an ideology . So you're right, that was a key distinction. The other thing is that the Soviet Union in relative size — its economy and population etc. — was much larger than Russia is today. And Russia is shrinking, and its economy is less diverse than the Communist one was. I think it's a delusion to think that they're going to kind of rebuild an empire, even if yes, because of their willingness to do awful things, they could potentially for a time politically control through violence, their neighbors. I just don't — in a multipolar world, I don't see Russia being one of the poles, at least not on its current path.
Blade: How would you evaluate the U.S. diplomatic approach to this issue?
Baer: There's been very clear over-the-top effort to include the Europeans at every step — meetings with them before each meeting and after each meeting, to force conversations into fora that are more inclusive and stuff like that. And I think that Secretary Blinken is rightly recognizing the need to kind of play a role of kind of keeping everybody on the side while we test whether diplomacy whether there's anything to do, whether there's any promise with diplomacy.
I think there's kind of, sometimes kind of, two camps in U.S. foreign policy circles. One is like: We should give the Russians what they want because it just doesn't matter that much. War is much worse than anything that we would give them. And another is that we can't give them an inch and we have to punch them in the face whenever we can. And I think both of those are kind of knee-jerk positions that have become a bit religious for people and neither of them is paying attention to the practical challenge that's in front of the administration, which is like this guy's threatening to invade and we need to identify whether there's any opportunity for a functional off ramp, and that doesn't mean we do that in a vacuum and ignore the long-term consequences, but our problem is not a religious one, it's a practical one. And I think they're doing a pretty good job of threading the needle on that and being not too far forward and not too far back.
Blade: Do you see any significant daylight between the United States and Europe?
Baer: No, I mean, no more than the minimum that is possible. There's a lot of talk about Germany these days. Look, I think some of the things they say are not particularly helpful, but I don't actually think that in the long run, if Putin invaded, I don't think that they would hold up sanctions or anything like that. So I think they're on our side, even if they're talking out of both sides, in some cases.
Blade: I am wise to the fact that this is a nuclear power. It might be a little old school, but could escalation get that far?
Baer: There can't be war. There can't be war between NATO and Russia. It should be avoided. Obviously, there can be, but it should be avoided.
Blade: How committed do you think President Biden is to protecting Ukraine?
Baer: Reasonably so. I think he's enough of an old school trans-Atlantist that he understands that this isn't just about Ukraine.
Blade: I was wondering because he had those comments from his press conference about "minor incursion" and I'm just wondering if you're reading anything into that or not.
Baer: No, I think that was that was a — I think broadly speaking, everything he says is in line with the kind of view that you would expect. And of course, one sentence can catch [attention]. That wasn't what he meant. What he meant was that he didn't want to draw a "red line" that would prejudge policy in response to something short of the most extreme scenario.
I think it is a good caution to not obsess over a single sentence and to look at the broad considered policy statements.
Blade: What do you think if you were looking for developments, like what would you be looking out for is significant in terms of where we are going to be going in the near future? This is one thing to keep an eye out for but is there anything else that you are kind of looking out for in terms of the near future?
Baer: I guess I would look out for whether or not the United States joins meetings of the so-called Normandy Format, which is the France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia grouping, which has so far been unsuccessful, but I think can only be successful as the United States joins it, but the Russians, I think have misgivings with the idea of our joining it.
Blade: I'm not at all familiar with that. What makes this forum particularly so —
Baer: So it was started in the summer in like June of 2015, on the margins of some meeting between Merkel and Hollande. The French and the Germans are very committed to the idea that they might be able to mediate peace between Ukraine and Russia. It was supposed to implement the Minsk Agreement, and it just hasn't been productive so far. I don't think that the Russians will do anything — I don't think the Ukrainians feel comfortable negotiating anything without the Americans at the table. And I don't think the Russians feel like anything is guaranteed without the Americans at the table. So I just, I'm fine with France and Germany taking the lead, but I think the U.S. has to be there.
And there was a meeting of this group in Paris yesterday, and which the U.S. was supportive of, and so I'm watching to see whether or not the United States gets added in some ad hoc way, whether there are future meetings. I guess the reason I would watch it, if the U.S. were to join future meetings that would signal to me that it's actually there's some diplomacy happening there.
That's meant to be focusing mainly on the existing Russian invasion, the occupation of the Donbas, so that's not about the threat of the new invasion, but it would be interesting to me if there was forward movement on other parts of Ukraine. The announcement of the American ambassador is one. I think that last week movement of troops into Belarus was a game changer for the U.S., because there are all kinds of new implications if you're using a third country as your launchpad for war, and so it complicates things and it also looks more serious if you're starting to deploy to third countries and stuff like that. So I think that was that last week, you noticed a difference in the U.S. tone and tenor in response to that.
So things like that. But in general, like what I would do and I don't think people always catch this is because there's a boiling frog aspect to it. There are statements coming out from the White House or State Department. Almost every day on stuff related to this and like last week, there was a noticeable change in the tenor as the U.S. became less, I think more pessimistic about the prospects of diplomacy and those I don't have anything better to look for in those statements as tea leaves, in terms of what the U.S. assessment is of the prospects of the escalation are, so it's bad.
Blade: Right. That's very sobering.
There's a lot of talk, and I've just been seeing some like about in terms of, there's like comparisons to Afghanistan and making sure that all Americans are able to get out of Ukraine. Is that comparing apples to oranges?
Baer: Yes.
Blade: And could you unpack that a little bit? I mean, I can kind of guess the reasons why. How is that apples to oranges?
Blade: Well, the level of development in Ukraine in terms of infrastructure and transport and stuff like that is not comparable to Afghanistan. I think it would be– if there were a Russian invasion–you would definitely want to, obviously, for safety reasons, it's not safe to be in a war zone, so you would want people to be able to evacuate and you'd have to plan for that.
A major concern [in Afghanistan] was also that there were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of locals who had worked for the Americans. The Americans that are in Ukraine are not a departing occupying power. There's just not the same footprint there — the Americans are in Ukraine or there as business people or young [people working on] democracy assistance or whatever. And it's just it's a different context.
Blade: Why do you think the Russians put up with Putin? I mean, this is a country that was a world power and I would think has some economic potential just given its sheer size, first of all, and they do have oil to offer people. So why aren't the Russians like angry at him for obstructing their participation in the global order as opposed to just putting up with him for years and years and years.
Baer: Successful instrumentalisation of cynicism. The lack of a belief in an alternative will keep you from fighting for it.
Blade: That's pretty succinct.
Baer: I mean, I don't think there's any question that the people of Russia could be better off or different in terms of kitchen table issues, and ease of navigating the world, prospects for their future for their children's future. The amount of money that Putin has invested into military modernization that Russia can ill afford, while he's cut pensions and social services and health care. It's just it's objectively true that the average Russian person would be better served by a different leader. But he's done a very good job of effectively selling off the country for profit and persuading people through repression and propaganda that there is no alternative.
Blade: And Putin won't be around forever. Once he finally goes, is an alternative going to emerge, or will it be the next guy in Putin's mold?
Baer: I think it's far from clear that what comes after Putin isn't worse and bloody. Regimes like this don't reliably have stable transitions.
Blade: Wow, okay.
Baer: Yeah, we shouldn't… we should be careful about wishing… wishing for his demise.
Blade: That's good to know. It's kind of a frightful note for me to end my questions. But actually before I sign off, there's one more thing too because I do kind of want to talk about the intersection about your old job in democracy and human rights and then a Venn diagram of that with your experience in Eastern Europe in particular. Do you have a sense of what's at stake for LGBTQ people in Ukraine or if they're in more danger right now than they would be otherwise?
Baer: That's a good question. I mean, my knee jerk reaction is yes. That — as mixed of a picture as Ukraine has been in the last seven years, or eight years — there have been meaningful steps forward, and certainly, in terms of visibility.
I guess, in the sense that Ukraine is better than Russia today, if you're gay, if Russia is going to occupy or control Ukraine we can expect that it will get worse because it will become more like Russia.
30 LGBTQ events today
Anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian activist Pat Robertson is dead at 93
Signature's acclaimed music director tackles 'Sweeney Todd'
DC Front Runners Pride 5K to take place as scheduled
Virginia Queer Film Festival to debut
D.C. Pride officials monitoring Canadian wildfire smoke conditions
Federal judge halts enforcement of Fla. trans healthcare ban
Same-sex marriage support remains strong at 71 percent high
DeSantis is public enemy No. 1 of the LGBTQ community
White House debuts new actions to protect the LGBTQ community
Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast
District of Columbia2 days ago
D.C. Pride officials monitoring Canadian wildfire smoke conditions
Florida4 days ago
Federal judge halts enforcement of Fla. trans healthcare ban
National4 days ago
Same-sex marriage support remains strong at 71 percent high
Opinions2 days ago
DeSantis is public enemy No. 1 of the LGBTQ community
The White House2 days ago
White House debuts new actions to protect the LGBTQ community
a&e features2 days ago
Drag legend Ella Fitzgerald returns to the stage for Capital Pride festival
Photos5 days ago
Washington Spirit host largest halftime drag performance in NWSL history
Louisiana4 days ago
La. lawmakers send anti-LGBTQ bills to governor


text:
It's official: the next major version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS 6, will be released to the public on September 19. The update will be pushed as a delta update to supported iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches over the air, or it can be downloaded via iTunes on your Mac or PC. Supported devices include the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, fourth-generation iPod touch, iPad 2, and the third-generation iPad.
Apple wasted no time extolling the virtues of iOS at its event today, calling it "the latest version of the world's most advanced OS."
Apple previewed most of iOS 6's headline features during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, so there aren't many new surprises as of yet. One of the most significant new features is a completely revamped Maps app with 3D mode, business listings, and turn-by-turn driving directions. iOS 6 also includes enhancements to Apple's virtual personal assistant, Siri, which now has the ability to tell you sports stats and scores, look up restaurant reviews, make posts directly to Twitter and Facebook, and launch apps from voice commands. Apple introduced a new app with iOS 6 called Passbook, which is meant to act as your virtual passport through your everyday life by collecting movie tickets, store loyalty cards, coupons, and more.
But there are plenty of smaller new features added to iOS 6 as well. Mail will gain the "VIP" feature that debuted in Mountain Lion, allowing you to sort those messages into a special VIP inbox and receive alerts about messages from VIPs on your lock screen. Photo Stream, originally introduced with iOS 5 last year, will gain the ability to be shared with a group of friends.
And Apple has finally added a "Do Not Disturb" mode that allows the phone to continue to receive alerts, but without ringing, vibrating, or even lighting up the screen. Users can specify certain groups in their Contacts list who can ring through, or allow the setting to be overridden if someone calls twice within three minutes.
Developers have had access to iOS 6 since WWDC, so many App Store selections have already been updated to support the update.
Now that we know when iOS 6 will be in our grubby little hands, be sure to check out the Ars Technica review of iOS 6 when it is posted on September 19!
Listing image by Nathan Mattise/Ars Technica


text:
Before taking the gig at Double-X, Rosenfeld produced a substantial body of anti-friend literature, including a novel about friends who despise each other (the official website even lets you stick pins in a flash voodoo doll!). She's also the author of How to Dump a Friend (2001) and Our Mutual Friend: how to steal friends and influence people (2004).But who would want to read a column that simply counseled people in the obvious? You should be a good and caring friend — which Beyerstein hastens to tell us she sure is. Beyerstein acknowledges that the advice she'd give the letter writer (whose friends abandoned her when she was in need) would be boring. So you'd have to find a different letter to write about, wouldn't you?
You have to come up with something surprising for the column to be readable. Here's the Rosenfeld column in question. Not that I'm interested in reading advice columns, but I do think female friendships are a fascinating subject for incisive analysis. It's a feminist topic, but I'd like some analysis that's scarily honest and unlubricated by feminist treacle.


text:
Saturday, October 09, 2010
Brief Comment on Intercessory Prayer
Intercessory Prayer, a hypothetical: I put an ad in the local paper saying I am retired, but have experience and contacts in the business world and can help people find work. They need only drive out to my house--an hour outside the city--and bring me their resume and talk to me about their work history for 30 minutes. I don't charge anyone a dime.
You are a reporter and you'd like to do a story on me and the inspirational work I'm doing. I meet with you and you ask me how it works. How do I help these people find work? I say, "Oh, after the applicants leave, I throw their resumes and vitaes in the trash. I don't actually do anything to help them find work. I just like knowing that I provide them with a sense of hope and inspiration that things might improve for them--since they believe I can help them. In fact, I was a bus driver all my life and have no real business experience at all.
Am I a kind, caring helpful person offering a benefit to people? Or an asshole who wastes their time? Remember--it only takes 2.5 hours of their time, and they're still looking for work on their own. But am I helpful or a dick?
In the context of the church--organized religion--they do charge for this "service." And in addition, there is a story in the news just about daily of parents who didn't seek medical help for their children because their churches teach that god will heal if it's His will--and a doctor is a demonstration of a lack of faith in god.
So, let's redo the scenario above to say I tell people to give me 10% of their net worth if they want me to take their case, and that in some cases I tell them that I won't help them unless they cease all other independent job hunting.
Again--helping or hurting? Kind or asshole?
Is this really hard?
33 comments:
I think I have statet this one or two times before, but still: It's unbelievable how people twist and bend in their arguments about religion.ReplyDelete
It's not just that they believe in all this made-up stuff, they seem completely unable to imagine at least how disgusting and immoral their practices must seem to someone who does not share their belief.
I am certainly a very, ahem, devout atheist, but I have no problem accepting that, if the Catholic Church is right, I'm screwed and atheism is dangerous to people, so of course they oppose us.
On the other hand, I can't wrap my mind around how they, even if their beliefs were completely true, can see anything morally right in the system their bible describes. So maybe I am just as blind to their side of the argument as they are to mine...
I'd say it's more like a Pyramid Scheme:ReplyDelete
Tho you may not actually be extorting money, you still provide no tangible product or service for your "customer"'s investment in time.
Once you do start charging 10% of their net worth, you've _defintely_ become a Pyramid Scheme tho.
Intercessory Prayer strikes me as simply a mild form of the above.
I'm sure in some cases he does offer hope to people and that they carry forward with new found vigor but what about the people that decide since someone else has decided to help them they shouldn't put in any effort at all and will let the work come to them? Knowing that some people will do worse as a result of your actions negates any positive effect you have on the group as a whole. Further more, nearly all the people that found hope would likely have kept trying had you not intervened, so if you would have concentrated on those that stopped trying after talking to you then that would have been a worthwhile effort.ReplyDelete
I like that analogy Tracie. It's also very revealing when religious people start off with claims about a super-being who transcends the universe... only to then water things down into "Well, this ritual kind of makes people feel a bit better.", after you challenge such claims.ReplyDelete
It's as if they lower the burden of their claims in order to extract agreement from you - and then ramp the claim back up as if you have agreed with the original statement: "Well that's all I was saying!"
First of all, most churches don't really 'charge' for prayer,and most would be appalled that people think that. I've been to tons of churches, and talked to tons of christians, and none have charged for prayer. also, I have never given even close to 10% of my income to a church.ReplyDelete
Intercessory prayer helps I think because the person being prayed for knows someone cares about them (the person that is praying). That's half the battle. People need to know others care, others love them, and that others want them.
"Again--helping or hurting? Kind or asshole?"ReplyDelete
You forgot to mention 'criminal asshat'.
- Anonymous10/09/2010 12:20 PM
>First of all, most churches don't really 'charge' for prayer
And I've never been to a church that didn't pass a plate and preach on tithing as a command from god. Are there churches that take your money and tell you that if you're not with their particular brand of Christianity you're not right with god? You don't think this is common? I can only wonder where you live and where you grew up?
- Anonymous10/09/2010 12:21 PM
Additionally then, you also think the guy who throws the resumes in the garbage but doesn't charge a fee is fine. Wow.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous10/09/2010 12:24 PM
@Scott: Your comment just reminded me of something I'd forgotten. When I was a minor living at home, our neighbor "got religion." He quit working and would only say "The Lord will provide." The Lord did provide, in fact. The Lord put his wife back to work extended hours so the guy could sit in a pew praising god all day and preaching to his neighbors.ReplyDelete
Mysterious ways, right?
- Anonymous10/09/2010 1:09 PM
I went to every church in town when I was younger. I was born an atheist and wanted to check out what was going on in these churches. As a new arrival your promised God will cure you, make you wealthy & wise and all manner of promises. After a month or two the excuses start as you find yourself just as poor, ignorant and sickly. If you persist with the complaints they then tell you its your fault, your lack of faith.ReplyDelete
This is the method I encountered in every church I'd attend. Promises, more promises then blame the victim when promises aren't fulfilled.
They pay 10% of their gross earnings for this abuse!! That's some sick twisted S&M going on!!
This reminds me of a very curious experience I had at a local restaurant some years ago, where I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between two Christians at the table next to me. One was basically asking the other, "So, do you have anyone else you'd like me to pray for?" in a perfectly matter-of-fact tone of voice, as if he were offering to put in a good word on someone's behalf with his supervisor at work. The other would give him names of people he knew, and it was clear both believed there was some actual service being performed here, and not just that this was a feel-good exercise so the man whose friends were being prayed for would have a warm comforting reassurance that someone cared. It was genuinely strange.ReplyDelete
But as we've seen in the exchange below with Marymanard, this stuff perpetuates because for Christians, the post hoc fallacy is how prayers get answered. "Someone prayed for me, or I said a prayer, and some indeterminate time later, a good thing happened, therefore God answered my prayer." Irrational beliefs are sustained by irrational minds.
This is a timely post for me personally.ReplyDelete
My cousin's husband had a terrible accident last week. When he was first taken to the hospital and it was unclear what the extent of the damages were, my very religious family were sending the word out to please pray.
Well unfortunately, doctors determined that there was nothing they could do for him. He was brain dead, and they need to think about when to pull the plug. The calls for prayer abruptly ended at this point.
Then, another doctor told my cousin that there were some signs of brain activity, so they should schedule an MRI. All of the sudden, the calls for prayer were on again:
"He is able!" "pray for a miracle!".
They had the MRI, and confirmed the main part of his brain is dead. Predictably, there is no talking of why god didn't answer any prayers. Instead, the whole focus has shifted from praying for a miracle to praying for god to give comfort. "A comfort that only HE can give."
My cousin is going through a living hell right now so it's not like I'm going to rant about prayer [to them - instead I'll rant here at AE], but honestly, it's so annoying to see them going on and on about prayer when it's so obviously ineffective.
If my cousin's hubby had an unexpected recovery, there is no doubt my whole family would be attributing it to a work of god. But where nothing happened, it doesn't even occur to them to question why god (who is able) opted not to do anything.
Teapong? wrote:ReplyDelete
"Intercessory prayer helps I think because the person being prayed for knows someone cares about them (the person that is praying). That's half the battle."
Did you read the major study from a couple of years ago about intercessory prayer? People who were in the hospital didn't get better if they were being prayed for. In fact, people who knew they were being prayed for did significantly worse.
"Intercessory prayer helps I think because the person being prayed for knows someone cares about them (the person that is praying). That's half the battle. People need to know others care, others love them, and that others want them."
Sitting with them is just as good at the most basic level. If you go a step further and actually offer to help them if they need it, the effects can be drastically increased.
...just sayin'
- Anonymous10/09/2010 8:55 PM
That's an interesting story. I find it most interesting that the prayer call seemed to only be used when there was some hope for natural or even medical intervention recovery. When he's diagnosed as brain dead--no more prayer call. Why not? Is god inhibited by brain death? God can't revive a brain dead person? I thought prayer could move mountains...?
@Curt. So glad you remembered that. I read that study as well when it came out. Was hysterical that only the people who _knew_ they were being prayed for did WORSE with post op complications! So, yes, there is no evidence that knowing people are praying for you helps. So funny. I'd totally forgotten that.
I recently had a talk with some Mormon missionaries, and they tried to convince me that the Mormon church doesn't encourage tithing.ReplyDelete
Nice try, except you forgot that ALABASTER CASTLE in Salt Lake CIty, you charlatans.
"I find it most interesting that the prayer call seemed to only be used when there was some hope for natural or even medical intervention recovery. "
EXACTLY. It seems that they know on some level to only have hope when there is some conceivable natural solution, which they will then turn around and deem a 'miracle' if it happens.
Even now, he's still technically alive. Why stop praying for a miracle now? It's sad that they have to confuse this terrible situation with all this god nonsense.
I've been sitting on this story and meaning to share it.ReplyDelete
A while back I cashed a check at a bank on the campus I was at at the time. I took lunch at the student center and there were, as often are, a table set up by some group in the major forum where they get a lot of foot traffic. It was for some christian group, I walked by and the guy there asked me
"Do you want me to pray for you?"
I must have really shocked him when I shot back an automatic "No, Why would I?".
I took a few steps and saw a poster that there was a blood drive going on that day. I donate often as I have a useful type, but was recently given a tetnus shot and couldn't this month. I then turned around and called out to the guy. He seemed really relieved and happy that I did, until I told him "If you want to do something to help though You can donate blood in my place today since I can't this month."
He just stared at me as if actually doing something to help people was a totally alien concept. I got irritated and informed him of some soup kitchens that were a few blocks away and that his group could do far more good actually going out and doing something. Really, anything rather than standing around and asking people if they wanted them to put in a good word with Jesus.
I don't think my request was appreciated or understood but that event really pissed me off. Those people got to sit around in an air conditioned room within walking distance of an indoor food court and just spam people as they walked by, and left feeling as if they were charitable and generous people. That guy probably left sure that his profound display of thoughtlessness and laziness made him a good person.
I once prayed to FSM when I lost my keys, and within 10 minutes I found them! (True Story! :P)ReplyDelete
I'm living proof that intercessory prayers work.. Especially when you have pasta to guide you :O.
Joking aside..ReplyDelete
I'd say that offering what is essentially an intellectual placebo is pretty skeevy. It may make them feel better for a time but the end result is that the person offering is taking credit for work that the person who's *supposedly* receiving is doing on their own.
I can't remember who said it, but I recall someone saying that two hands that help are better than a hundred hands that pray. I've never seen any reason to doubt the validity of that statement
Wow, it really was a brief comment. From Tracie. Who would have thought. It's a miracle! :)ReplyDelete
I'm just now having a discussion with some cleric (He has some fancy title I don't know in English, but basically he manages a catholic monk's choire, I guess.) who goes around telling people to pray for Hungary because of their toxic spill.ReplyDelete
When I asked him if he believed that prayer actually changes God's plan, he said: "No, of course His plan is unchangeable, but praying opens me and gives me strength to help fulfil his plan."
When I asked him for the sense in praying for others, then, he said:
"Well, prayer helps me to find strengt, but it can also change things everywhere on the world by opening other people to God's influence and power."
When I asked if he meant that praying does bring about things that would not have happened without it or if he stands by his claim that God's plan is unchangeable, he said:
"Both and neither."
Thanks. I rest my case.
@Martin, you must be out of the christian loop. I have family members that have prayer group every week and the members all bring a list or have specific prayer topics each week.ReplyDelete
In their defense, if you asked any of them for any real tangible help with something, they'd do it straight away. They really do help people in the real world also. But somehow this has become some form of weekly entertainment for them. Instead of playing games each week or finding another common interest, they do this odd "find things to pray about" meeting.
I'd prefer they just enjoy themselves, because it really seems to me like an ego driven suffering thing. You know, they could be enjoying themselves ,but they're too giving for that. They want to think of themselves in some masturbatory good light, so they do this instead. I wish they would just help people when they can, because they certainly would, then enjoy the company of others without the pomp. Instead it's this self congratulatory wank fest of nothingness.
My grandmother often says she's "praying for" me; these days, I haven't the heart to tell her it probably won't improve upon anything I could do, myself... :-/ReplyDelete
Being a former believing Mormon, I can honestly tell you that yes, they were being very disingenuous if that is what they were telling you. All Mormons must pay a 10% tithe or they will not be members in good standing, and cannot attend the temple (that alabaster palace in Salt Lake city).
Now, if only I could get a refund for all of those years I paid 10%...
This topic is really tough. Not to us but to believers. A relative of mine who evangelizes to me once or twice a year believes in the bible almost solely based on positive prayer response. That his business and family are doing so well because they prayed for it and worked hard for it. Really it all happened because they're great people with a great business model that doesn't leave a customer unsatisfied. But the affirmation that these things they prayed for came true set his belief in stone. Even though I don't mind him bringing up his opinions and suggestions of faith, i don't think I could ever convince him otherwise based on his personal experience with prayer.ReplyDelete
Unusual for you to write a brief comment...;-) Still, you make your point.ReplyDelete
There is something about prayer that makes it a racket better than any other: the crook doing it is often as sincere as the victims.
The sense that any sort of prayer has actually had any effect is all post hoc rationalization. When asked why god does not answer most prayers, the standard response from ministers is, "Sometimes the answer is no, or not yet." In other words, there is no way to demonstrate the difference between active prayer, random prayer and no prayer at all. The fallback position that prayer might produce some positive psychological effect begs the question of belief. Why do you need a belief in a supernatural entity in order to meditate or to wish someone well? You don't.ReplyDelete
Commenters seem to think that if some people are screwed up about the concept of prayer and how it works, it must be true that prayer cannot work. They are obviously commenters who have no concept of what proof means or what logic is or what reason means.ReplyDelete
some people are screwed up about the concept of prayer and how it worksReplyDelete
So, they were praying the wrong way? Is that your argument?
Stan is implying that he has some special grasp on logic, reason, and that there is proof that prayer works. I would be interested to see all three presented, because this would be the first time I have ever seen any of them consistently applied to prayer. He must be really really bright, and have access to information that no intelligent believer has been able to dig up in the past 2,000 years.ReplyDelete
You all are all wrong.God is so powerful and majestic that you don't even know.ReplyDelete
Oh my God, you're so right, Shane. I'm totally convinced now. Excuse me, I have to go to church and get right with the Lord.ReplyDelete
PLEASE NOTE: The Atheist Experience has moved to a new location, and this blog is now closed to comments. To participate in future discussions, please visit http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/axp.
This blog encourages believers who disagree with us to comment. However, anonymous comments are disallowed to weed out cowardly flamers who hide behind anonymity. Commenters will only be banned when they've demonstrated they're nothing more than trolls whose behavior is intentionally offensive to the blog's readership.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.


text:
Sports update: At retooled Belmont, stars align for Triple Crown
NEW YORK — Martin Panza celebrated California Chrome's charge to Preakness Stakes victory three weeks ago like most fans at the packed Pimlico Race Course — bumping fists, slapping hands and thinking ahead to Saturday and the possibility of the first Triple Crown winner in 36 years.
And then Belmont Park's director of racing operations thought about everything else: the tens of thousands of additional people who show up for the Belmont Stakes whenever a horse has a chance at history; the millions more in expected wagers; and the need for more of everything, from seating, concessions to bathrooms, security and about 1,000 additional workers.
Local officials and business leaders celebrated too, seeing the race and the added interest of a Triple Crown contender as a boon of sold-out hotel rooms, dinners out and free publicity, so long as the writers and broadcasters were aware the track is actually on Long Island, as NBC's Bob Costas noted Wednesday, and not in New York City.
They have filled the undercard with high-stakes races, increased the day's total purse to $8 million — the second-richest day in American horse racing behind the final slate of the Breeder's Cup — and surrounded the action with music from rapper and actor LL Cool J, former New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams and Frank Sinatra Jr. singing "New York, New York."
"For the first year of us doing this, under this new format, it's not going to get any better than this," Panza said in an interview near his track office, which was filled with boxes of Belmont Stakes caps and bags of other race souvenirs.
"From our end, what we need to do now is observe how the day goes and see what we can do for next year, always thinking that there could be another Triple Crown on the line."
California Chrome is the 12th horse to reach Long Island with wins in the first two legs of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, since Affirmed won all three in 1978.
Attendance for those 11 races averaged nearly 30,000 more than in years without a contender — going from a low of 37,171 in 1995 when Thunder Gulch and Timber Country split the Derby and the Preakness, to a record 120,139 in 2004 when Birdstone upset Smarty Jones in the last of a three-year stretch of Triple Crown contenders in the Belmont Stakes.
On-site wagering on the race-day program also surged in those years, according to track records, jumping from $6.8 million in contender-less 1996 to $9.2 million the following year when Silver Charm took the first two races, and from $8.8 million in contender-less 2007 to $13.3 million when Big Brown raced for history in 2008.
I'll Have Another's wins in Louisville and Baltimore sent attendance for the 2012 Belmont Stakes to nearly 86,000 and on-site wagering to $13.8 million even though the horse was withdrawn the day before the race due to a leg injury.
The head of the track's management team said ticket sales for this year's Belmont Stakes, with its emphasis on high-level racing and daylong entertainment, were already brisk before California Chrome broke from the gate at Churchill Downs in May.
More than 70 percent of tickets and premium tables for the race were sold before the Derby and all were gone before the Preakness, according to New York Racing Association president and chief executive officer Christopher Kay.
After the Preakness, Kay said, they added a trackside tent and additional seating to accommodate the surge of interest in a potential California Chrome coronation.
General admission and grandstand tickets costing $10 remained available through the track late in the week and more than 3,000 tickets, ranging from $12 for grandstand to $2,300 for a table for two at the Garden Terrace Restaurant, were available on the secondary ticket sales website StubHub.com.
Good weather — 82 degrees and sunny, according to the National Weather Service — could push the crowd into record territory.